Best UK roaming data plans for the United States

A trip from Britain to the United States is a relatively long haul — between eight and eleven hours to jet off to the land of the free. And with such a lengthy journey, you might think that roaming in the US would be prohibitively expensive — but you'd be wrong. In fact, some of the major UK networks now offer US roaming plans that won't break the bank — in some cases with 4G roaming thrown in for good measure.

Let's take a look at the best UK roaming plans for the United States.

The best roaming plans for the USA: Three + Vodafone

We're going with a joint winner here, because the provider that's best for you will likely depend on how you plan on using your iPhone in America.

Three

The US is part of Three's "Feel at Home" roaming area, meaning you can use your iPhone — including data — at no extra cost when you travel there. Just enable data roaming when you land and you're good to go — with a few caveats:

Vodafone

Vodafone includes the US in its WorldTraveller zone, meaning you can use your UK allowances for calls, texts and data there for £5 per day — including 4G LTE data where it's available on the roaming network. (Note that this applies to Vodafone contract plans, not Pay As You Go.)

Depending on when you took out your contract, WorldTraveller may or may not be automatically enabled, as the carrier explains:

All Red and Red Value Bundles bought from 5 May 2016 are automatically opted-in to WorldTraveller. For all other bundles, text ADD to 40508 or call 5555 free from your Vodafone mobile to opt in.

It's worth remembering that the £5 per day charge is measured from midnight to midnight UK time, so you may incur more (or fewer) days worth of charges depending on when you enable roaming.

Runner-up: EE

EE also scores points for having 4G LTE roaming coverage in the US, but its data rates aren't as attractive as Vodafone's for heavy users. In short, you're back to paying for data bundles, per megabyte, in advance. Here are EE's US roaming bundles at the time of writing, which you'll be able to buy once you arrive in the US:

Also note that if you're grandfathered into EE's old roaming rates you may get slightly better prices here, with 1GB for £25 being the top bundle. (If your plan includes this, you'll see "Special Rate" next to each roaming bundle when you land.)

The rest

O2 offers roaming data in the United States at its standard rate of £40 per month for 50MB. This can be increased on request to £120 for 200MB. Neither is great value.

BT Mobile offers roaming data add-ons for the US priced at £3 for 20MB or £15 for 100MB.

Reader comments

Best UK roaming data plans for the United States

I am on three and spent a week in New York late last year and didn't have any problems roaming, tended to find speeds at around about 10mb down and 2mb up which was perfectly acceptable. (This was using a Xperia Z4 compact at the time (terrible phone but good camera) )

The comment about when Vodafone charges for World traveller is wrong. It is not based on the time in the UK but on the capital in the country being visited. In the case of the US that means Washington DC.

Couldn't agree more! How are the big carriers EE, Voda, O2 all managing with the likes of Three's deals? - Would have thought that by 2016 it really can't cost the networks much at all to allow us to use our data abroad? Surely it's not based on the charges the roaming network imply as Three wouldn't be able to do it.

What's the deal with next June in the UK and the change to roaming costs? Is this only in the EU or USA too that we can use our monthly data allowance?